


I Challenge

by xbleeple



Series: Teslen Appreciation Week 2018 [1]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Board Games, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:33:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xbleeple/pseuds/xbleeple
Summary: Helen and Nikola engage in a friendly Scrabble game.





	I Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> For Teslen Appreciation Week 2018
> 
> \--
> 
> Prompt - Games

“You made that up,” Nikola decrees as he sits on the other side of the coffee table in the sitting area of Helen’s bedroom. She arches her eyebrow as she takes a sip from the wineglass in her hand, regarding the large Scrabble board in front of them and the tiles she’d just placed.

“No, I don’t think I did. Unless that’s an official challenge,” She asks with a teasing lilt to her voice. It was a good thing that Nikola had a propensity for layers, otherwise she was sure that he’d be down to his socks by this point.

Once they had moved down to the new sanctuary the two of them had spent quite a few late nights playing an old, tattered copy of the game that Helen had unearthed whilst pilfering things from herself. In turn, the vampire had gifted her a new board for her birthday. Nikola being Nikola, various improvements had been made. The board he had gifted her was the size of two by two square of ‘regulation sized’ boards and had been professionally constructed out of beautifully stained wood with gold inlay. The board had come with a large, crimson velvet bag filled with tiles, all appropriately engraved, as well as a nicely bound leather book to keep score in.

For the inaugural game he’d pulled two bottles of French Malbec from the cellar and suggested that they up the ante from simple bragging rights. Helen had initially balked at the suggestion of ‘strip’ Scrabble, but as Nikola outlined the rules while uncorking the wine, explaining that pieces of clothing would only be lost to failed challenges or tile swaps, she became slightly more interested. They both had a wide vocabulary and a regular game only took them thirty minutes at the most, but their creativity had been hampered by the limited tile selection. The larger board and the mountain of tiles suggested there was no guarantee at the end of the game that either of them would be naked. But once she’d decided she would play her sole mission was to make sure that Nikola was damn near, if not completely, naked by the time they were finished. A cocky smile had spread across his lips as he filled their glasses before pulling down the stack of reference books they had decided to define their ‘dictionary of play’ and taking a seat across from her.

An hour and a half into the game Helen had only lost a challenge once while Nikola had challenged and lost a surprising four times along with a tile swap for each of them. Her cardigan was draped over the back of the couch and her toes were bare for wiggling while he’d lost his suit jacket, waistcoat, shirt, and socks. She was sure that if an average person looked at the board they’d be convinced that they were playing words of pure gibberish. EISTEDDFODAU was the word that was currently staring up at them from the board and taunting Nikola into another challenge. He hated to lose, especially to Helen, and especially when he’d been gearing towards her nudity making an appearance at some point in the evening.

“I…” Nikola pauses and looks at the word a little closer, actually leaning towards the board as if it was going to tell him some secret as to its truth or not. He glances up at her and narrows his eyes while he studies her for an additional moment.

“I know we have eternity but if you take any longer I’m going to be forced to get the timer out,” Helen teases as she takes another drink. With a purse of his lips Nikola nods and leans back from the board.

“I challenge.”

“Bold,” She commends as she leans over herself to grab the middle book from the pile before holding it out to him. He glares at her slightly as he sets his glass down before starting to flip through the book, looking for the atrocious word. After a few moments he stops, scans the page, and snaps the book closed before tossing it back onto the table with an angry thud.

“A Welsh festival of literature and the arts. Are you serious?”

“I offered multiple times for you to take the train to Wales with me. And you declared, and I quote, _England is already dismal enough, why would I want to go to an even more depressing and wearisome country?_ ” Helen raises her eyebrows while she replies, drawing replacement tiles to reload her tray, “What did the Welsh ever do to you?”

“This isn’t fair, you have an extra century on me,“ Nikola complains.

“Pants, Niko,” She requests as she looks up from the tiles in front of her, a mirthful smile on her lips, “Please.”


End file.
